Regeneration - Divine Comedy

Some people may disagree with me, but I felt that The Divine Comedy lost their way a little with Fin De Siecle, their last proper album in 1998, but instead of being the beginning of their decline, this album seems to suggests that it was only a glitch in the grand scheme to make supreme music. Before I got this a couple of months ago the media was constantly going on about how DC had stripped the sound down, taking away the string sections and the grandiose sound. Upon listening to this album, I think that this is a pile of tosh because the strings remain. They’re more subtle certainly, but this is no massive change in direction that some had predicted. ...

Regeneration sees the return of the Divine Comedy, this time on the Parlophone label following their big money move from indie label Setanta. The move also sees them taking a new musical direction – a more sedate, introspective approach as opposed to the “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” jolly outings of National Express and Something for the Weekend. This was completely unexpected as I expected them to lose part of who they where by going to a big label, who would stifle them a bit, but they go completely against this by releasing their least commercial album to date. The whole album has a more relaxed, gentle feel, the lyrics aren’t full of clever ...

“I wanna play with the big boys,” declares the enigmatic Divine Comedy lead man Neil Hannon on the second track, Bad Ambassador, on their new album released on the 12 March. This sentiment, and the title of the album, Regeneration, can almost be considered as a statement of intent for the band. Forget the huge full piece orchestras and dirty postcard attitude and say hello to 7 slightly stern and unremarkable young men who appear on the back of the album. For this is The Divine Comedy. Whay do you think of when you think of The Divine Comedy? The fairytale of the Frog Princess? The whimsy of Something for the Weekend? The humour of Generation Sex? ...